new home
by not a straight trumpet
Summary: Kumiko and Reina have an important conversation.


**a/n:** wowie it's been quite a while, hasn't it? and by that i mean like three weeks. this is almost entirely due to the fact that i've been writing way too many things at the same time, which is a bad idea. anyway, here's adventures in apartment rental

* * *

It was a muggy Thursday afternoon when Kumiko asked the question.

"Reina?"

"Hmm?"

"Would you . . . uh . . . I m-mean, we've been together for a long time and I was thinking maybe we could . . ." Reina raised an eyebrow, shifting her position on the couch so that she was looking directly at her. "Crap, that sounded really bad. Could I try that again?"

"I guess?"

"Reina, would you want to move in with me?" Reina didn't answer, for a moment. "It's fine if you don't! I know it's a really big step and it's kinda crazy that I'm even asking you this but-"

"Kumiko."

"Eh?"

"Where would we even start?" Reina put her hands in her lap, fingers interlocking. "The orchestra isn't a particularly steady job, you've been in and out of accounting work and the like, could we afford something like this? I hate to be the practical one, but it just doesn't sound particularly . . . feasible."

"I know." Kumiko pulled her knees close to her chest. The couch cushions seemed to sink around her. "I know that, Reina, but wouldn't it be nice if we just _tried,_ at least?"

"I suppose there's no harm in looking."

* * *

"Hmm, what about that one?" Kumiko pointed to an apartment towards the top of the screen, rapping her finger against it.

"It's tiny." Reina scrolled down a bit further. Kumiko pulled the blanket closer to herself. "We wouldn't have much room to breathe, let alone practice."

"Oh." A lightbulb flickered overhead.

"How about this one?" Reina hovered the mouse over a different apartment, sleek hardwood floors and fluorescent lighting abounding.

"Do we have a budget for this?"

"If we do, I suppose this one would surpass it." Reina closed the window with a sigh. "Really, Kumiko, I don't know if this is going to work. I want it to - I can't imagine anything better than us living together, curling up together on our couch while we watched old movies after a long day at work, but it's just not . . ."

"Realistic?" Kumiko offered. Reina slowly nodded.

"As much as I hate to admit it."

"Yeah." Kumiko pressed her hand over the top of the computer until it was shut, the one source of light in the room gone. "I should head back home. My folks'll p-probably be waiting for me there."

"I'll see you around, then." Reina didn't move from her spot, but waved halfheartedly as Kumiko got up and slung her bag over her shoulder, closing the door carefully so as not to disturb her parents.

* * *

Kumiko pulled her sweater closer as she walked home - not because she was cold, in fact the weather was quite warm, but for some kind of added protection, huddled up in herself.

"Ah, Oumae-chan! It's been too long, hasn't it?"

"Asuka-senpai?" Kumiko looked around wildly, but Asuka's familiar, haunting visage evaded her, and she most likely just looked like an idiot rolling her head around on a sidewalk.

"That would be me, yes." Asuka stepped out from behind a store, wearing some kind of old-fashioned black-and-white suit that reminded Kumiko of movies from long before she was born. All that was missing was the top hat and pipe, and she'd be well on her way to smooth-talking women on trains and on highways with her sharp tongue and sharper wit. "Oumae? Are you still with me? Hmm?"

"Why're you here?" she blurted out, before she could stop herself. Asuka stifled a hearty chuckle.

"Why am I here? I'm just dropping by. You know, they always say never to look back - hurts too much or something - but I'm actually having quite a good time. I know I'm not going to stay much longer, and there's something that's just oh so nice about that." Asuka stepped closed, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "Don't you agree?"

"Uh, w-what about the suit?"

"Oh, this? I'm just having some harmless fun. I'm on my way to an important meeting, too, and it's best to make a good impression." Kumiko didn't bother asking what kind of meeting - she had a sinking suspicion that Asuka wouldn't give her an answer. "What's on your mind, then?"

"I'm thinking about moving in with Reina."

"Oh, really?" Asuka leaned on her cane - an honest-to-god _cane,_ as if she were just about to head to some cocktail party trapped in the mid-1940s - and quirked her eyebrows. "Don't both of you still live with your parents?"

"Well, yeah."

"That's why you're worried, hmm?"

"Yeah."

"I can't say that I know exactly what to do in this kind of thing - settling down with the wind and refusing to tie yourself down to one house certainly isn't for everyone - but I do truly hope you'll make the right decision." Asuka's expression didn't betray any sign of actually caring, her face as carefully cheery as it had been in high school. "For the both of you, I think you'll know." Asuka tapped one perfectly shiny shoe on the ground, as if waiting for an answer.

"Thanks?"

"Don't mention it." Asuka grinned, though Kumiko couldn't tell for the life of her whether or not the pearly teeth were a symbol of trust or lack thereof. "I'll see you around."

"You too." Kumiko awkwardly waved as Asuka gave her a mock salute, sauntering away while humming a song only she could hear.

* * *

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Kumiko muttered as she pushed aside books on her dusty shelf, finally finding what she'd been looking for - a little round cactus, still somehow alive after all this time. She carefully took it from the spot and set it down on her table, leering at it all the while.

"Okay, so we're both adults, we're old enough to make this kind of decision. S-still, I don't want to pressure her into it, so we're kind of at a standstill. I'm just going to wait for her to say something. Yeah. I'll just wait."

The cactus, as always, refused to respond.

* * *

 **Kumiko: reina?**

 **Kumiko: uhhh so i've been thinking**

 **Kumiko: and i can't really talk about it over text so if you could call me or something when you get this, that'd be great**

 **Kumiko: and maybe we could meet up for coffee or something?**

Kumiko felt the overwhelming urge to throw her phone at a wall as soon as she hit _send._ The sun had hardly even risen yet.

 **Reina: Are you asking me out on a date?**

 **Kumiko: haha yeah i guess so**

 _Idiot. Idiot. You're_ dating, _she probably thinks you're being a-_

 **Reina: Today at three, then?**

 **Reina: I'll be at the coffee shop right down the corner.**

 **Reina: Don't be late.**

 **Kumiko: i probably will be**

"Today at three," she said to herself. "Today at three."

* * *

With her perfectly crisp attire and her hands folded on the table, Reina looked far more likely to be brokering a deal than talking about moving in with her long-time girlfriend, but here she was, and here she'd have stayed for hours if not for Kumiko crashing through the door just two minutes past three.

"S-sorry I'm late!" she blubbered. Reina covered her mouth, so clearly to hide her amusement that it was almost as if she hadn't covered it at all.

"It's fine," she said. "Sit down, will you? I've already ordered our regulars."

"Oh. Thanks."

"Don't mention it." Reina tapped her fingers on the wooden table, her neatly trimmed nails ensuring that they weren't making any noise. "Now, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

 _Here comes the hard part._ "Reina, I know we talked about this just yesterday, and I understand if it's too big of a step for you - really, I do, and if you want to stop talking about it then I will, but, uh, I really want to give it a try first. I think it could be something . . . w-well, I think it could be something nice, y'know?"

"I want to." Reina's voice was diminished in the bustle of the coffeeshop, and Kumiko had to strain her ear to hear her. "I do."

"T-then what's the holdup?"

"We haven't found any apartments that are actually any good near here, for one. I won't entertain myself with ideas of things that _could_ happen, not when I'm happy enough anyway."

"Oh."

"I must sound so _boring,_ right now. Talking about the difficulties of home ownership and contentment, I'm sure that this isn't what you had in mind when we were in high school and walking up mountains."

"It's _you,_ Reina." Kumiko reached her hand across the table, and Reina discreetly held it. "That's enough."

"Right."

"A-anyway, it's okay. We'll figure it out."

"I hope we will, Kumiko."

* * *

Walking back home, arms linked like an old married couple, Kumiko found herself looking up to the skies, lost in thought, while Reina stared at the ground.

"I guess this kind of a role reversal, huh?" she chuckled humorlessly. "You've . . . you've always been the dreamer, haven't you, Reina?"

"I suppose."

"Yeah. Anyway." Kumiko didn't follow up with anything, after that, just letting the _anyway_ dangle there. "I'll see you around." Reina turned to her, already leaning in for a goodbye kiss, when she suddenly pushed her out of the way.

"Kumiko."

"Y-yeah?"

"Turn around." Kumiko did as she was told, and the sight that greeted her was enough to make her tear up.

 _Apartments For Rent_

"It's perfect," Reina breathed.

It was.

* * *

"I think that's the last box!" Kumiko wheezed, wiping her brow. Reina stood next to her, surveying the sight - a modest place, empty save for the loads of cardboard boxes stacked haphazardly along the walls, but _theirs._

"We're home, aren't we?"

"I guess we are, Reina." The two girls stayed there for a moment longer, hands intertwined, and they both knew it was true.

* * *

 **a/n:** the mental image of asuka in an old-timey suit came to me in the middle of writing this fic and refused to let go until i made it happen


End file.
